Old Wine in New Bottles 2001 Grabosky 243 9

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VIRTU AL C RIMINALITY: O LD

WIN E IN N EW B O TTLES?P ETER N . G RABOSKY

Australian I nstit ute of C riminology, Austr alia

INTROD UC TION

IT H AS become trite to suggest that the convergence of computing and

communications has begun to change the way we live, and the way wecommit crime. Whether this w ill necessitat e a revision o f our philosophi-

cal, historical and sociological assumptions, how ever, is another matter. O nemust beware of overgeneralizat ion and hyperbole, w hich characterize a great

deal of discourse on the digital age. In the pages that follow, I suggest thatvirtual criminality is basically the same as the terrestrial crime with whichw e are familiar. To be sure, some of the manifestat ions are new. B ut a great

deal of crime committed with or against computers differs only in terms ofthe medium. While the technology of implementation, and particularly itseffi ciency, may be w ithout precedent, the crime is fundamentally familiar. I tis less a q uestion o f something completely different than a recognizab le crimecommitted in a completely different way.

Perhaps the most remarkable developments relating to crime in the digitalage are its transnational implications, and the threats to personal privacyposed by new technologies. The speed of electronic transactions allows anoffender to infl ict loss or damage on the other side of the w orld, bringing new

meaning to the term remote control. In addition, digital technology facili-

tates surveillance, by public agencies and the private sector, to a degree thatis quite revolutionary.

MO TIVATIO N

Let us look fi rst at motivations of those who w ould commit computer-related

crime. O ne could perhaps be excused fo r observing plus ca change, plus cestla meme chose. C omputer criminals are driven by time-honoured moti-vations, the most obvious of w hich are greed, lust, pow er, revenge, adventure,

SOCI AL & LEGAL STUDIES 0964 6639 (200106) 10:2 Copy right 2001SAG E Publications, Londo n, Thousand O aks, C A and N ew D elhi,

Vol. 10(2), 243249; 017405

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and the desire to taste forb idden fruit. While many criminal acts fl ow frommixed motives, it is greed that primarily underlies electronic funds transfer

fraud, and lust that drives the traffi c in child pornography. The ability to

make an impact on large systems may, as an act o f pow er, be gratify ing in andof itself. The desire to infl ict loss or damage on another may also spring fromrevenge, as w hen a disgruntled employ ee shuts do w n an employers computer

system, or ideology, as w hen one defaces the w eb page of the U nited StatesC entral Intelligence Agency. Much activity that occurs on the electronic fron-tier entails an element of adventure, the exploration of the unknow n. Thevery fact that some activities in cyberspace are likely to elicit offi cial con-

demnation is suffi cient to att ract the defi ant, or the irresistibly curious. G iventhe degree of technical competence required to commit many computer-related crimes, there is one other motivational dimension w orth no ting here.

This, of course, is the intellectual challenge of mastering complex systems.N one of the above mot ivations is new. The element of novelty resides in

the unprecedented capacity of technology to facilitate acting on these moti-vations.

INTERPERSONAL RELATION S IN C YBERSPACE

D igital technology has, to some extent, impacted on interpersonal relations.

The illusion o f anony mity seems to have elicited more candour over the inter-net than one would expect in face-to-face communications. But w hether therole play that occurs in some chatrooms constitutes something completelydifferent f rom good theatre, in w hich the actors are immersed in their ro les,

is open to question. To be sure, some of this role play is extremely aggres-sive, or o therw ise antisocial. But any more so than a performance of H amlet?

The internet has indeed b rought about signifi cant changes in human inter-action. O rdinary investors are now able to buy and sell shares online w ithout

dealing through intermediaries such as underw riters, brokers and investmentadvisers. While this may enhance the effi ciency of securities markets, it also

provides opportunities for criminal exploitat ion. B ut the fundamental crimi-nality is still reducible to the basics: misrepresenting the underlying value of

a security at the time of the initial public offering, or market manipulationduring secondary trading of a security, through the dissemination of falseinformation, o r engineering a deceptive pattern of transactions to att ract theattention of the unwitting investor.

O ne hears anecdotes about children w ho have been lured f rom the safetyof their homes by paedophiles after an initial encounter in an internet chat-room, or w omen w ho, after an electronically arranged assignation, meet w ithfoul play at the hands of a predato r. But is this really new ? C yberspace serves

the same function as the busstop, the schoolyard or the disco.There is another sense in w hich digital criminality may be similar to con-

ventional criminality. At the risk of oversimplifi cation, one may divide con-ventional criminals into tw o classes: the competent and the incompetent.

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Sooner or later, most of the latter w ind up in prison. The competent onesavoid detection, or at the very least, prosecution and conviction. So it is w ith

cybercriminals. The most adept are never noticed, much less identifi ed. By

contrast the inept cybercriminal leaves his footprints all over cyberspace.

N EW C H A LL EN G E S FO R TH E STATE

The digital age has begun to pose new challenges for the stat e. Blasphemous,seditious, salacious, and otherwise offensive communications have long been

the focus of governmental preoccupation. In an era w here many go vernmentsseek to shed functions and devolve pow ers, the urge to contro l digital tech-nology remains strong. And y et the ability o f governments and legal sy stems

to ad apt to new media for the transmission of o ffensive content is somewhatlimited. O f course, one could alw ays pull the plug, and severely restrict citi-zens access to cyberspace. B ut those governments w hich seek to maximizethe economic w ell-being of their citizenry realize that it is futile to try to holdback the tide of globalization, and that failure to get in on the ground fl oor

of electronic commerce may retard economic development.The challenges faced by governments are by no means limited to the regu-

lation of online content. In English-speaking societies at the very least, thecapacity of public police is now acknow ledged to be limited. Mo st victims of

residential burglary are aw are that they stand little chance of recovering theirlost possessions; they harbour few illusions that their offender w ill eventu-ally be brought to justice. The role of the police is often limited to that oflegitimizing insurance claims and providing a few kind words (and perhaps

some crime prevention advice) to the victim. Individuals are, to an extent thatfew wish to acknowledge openly, largely on their own as far as crime pre-vention is concerned. And so those who can afford it acquire sophisticatedalarm systems and live in gated communities. The necessity of self-reliance

in crime control is no less in cyberspace than in ones physical neighbour-hood.

PAR AD O X E S O F TH E D IG ITAL AG E

In addition to the tension betw een the shrinking state, and the imperative todirect t raffi c on the information superhighw ay, the digital age has given rise

to other paradoxes. Technologies of anonymity and pseudonymity such asremailers and cryptography can provide a modicum of cover for someonewishing to mask his or her identity and the content of his or her communi-cation. But not everyone avails themselves of such technologies, and capaci-

ties of surveillance exceed all but the most determined users.C ryptography, regarded by law enforcement as a threat, is one of the

fundamental pillars of electronic commerce. Without this secure technology,electronic payments, much less the transmittal of ones credit card details,

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w ould be that much riskier. C ryptography may be a boon to criminals, butit is arguably an even greater boon to legitimate business.

Arguably, the internet constitutes a greater threat to privacy than w as ever

thought possible. The possibility of remaining anonymous in cyberspace,far from being endless, appears significantly constrained. Moreover, thethreat to privacy may come from private as well as governmental sources.

Much is made of so-called hacker sites and chatroo ms devoted to teensex,many of w hich are essentially accessible to the public. The fact remains thatthese can be wond erful sources of intelligence for law enforcement agenciesor information security specialists. The annals of law enforcement are

expanding w ith examples of police of ficers posing as 13-year-old girls whoarrange online assignations w ith tho se w ho w ere once described as d irty oldmen.

TH E P RIVATE TH REAT TO P RIVACY

O f perhaps even greater signifi cance is the exploitation of personal in-

formation by private commercial interests. The amount of personal infor-mation available about individuals spending patterns and consumerpreferences is surprising to many. In the past, information privacy was pro-tected by dat a dispersion (C larke, 1988). A great deal of personal infor-

mation may have been stored here and there in various locations (whetherpublic or private), but aside from major investigations, the cumbersomelogistics of sort ing through rooms full of forms in one place and another pre-cluded collation on any signifi cant scale. Technologies of data manipulation

that permit merging of databases and matching of individual identities nowfacilitate the aggregation o f d ata from d isparate sources (C larke, 1988). Theterm d ata mining is commonly used to refer to such practices. The linkageof d isparate data is facilitated by the existence of identifi cation numbers that

are common in most industrial societies. The nine-digit Social SecurityN umber in the U nited States is a classic example. Through the collation of

disparate personal details, the whole becomes greater than the sum of itsparts.

O ne suspects that most individuals are not resort ing increasingly to ano-ny mity, and that their personal details are accessible in abundance. Moreover,these details are traded freely by marketing fi rms.

Many people who use electronic mail do so with unusual candour. In the

w ords of Bennahum (1999, 102) Email is a truth serum. But unlike a face-to-face conversation, electronic communications are no t evanescent. Recordspersist, and may return to haunt one or more participants in the communi-cation. E ven w hen a message is erased, it may have been retained by another

party to the communication, or it may have been backed up on one or moresystem fi les. Moreover, many communications are accessible merely by usingreadily available search technology. O ne estranged husband searched theinternet for his ex-wifes account name and collected 30 pages of messages




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new responsibilities for disclosure. C orporate w ebsites can be hacked o rmimicked w ith uncanny realism. H ow often should a companys website be

checked or updated in order to ensure that the information it contains is

correct? What is an unacceptable delay in rectify ing misinformation? Whatis the appropriate course of action for a company that discovers that itsw ebsite is linked to other w ebsites w hich themselves may contain inaccura-

cies about the company in question? The future will no doubt present anumber of such scenarios, and it w ill be interesting to observe how they areresolved. To safeguard against some of these diffi culties, many companieshave begun to engage the services of consultants who scan the internet for

corporate references (G rabosky, Smith and D empsey, 2001, ch. 6).

C O N C L U S I O N

O ne of the basic tenets of criminology holds that crime can be explained bythree factors: motivation, opportunity, and the absence of a capable guardian.This explanation can apply to an individual incident as w ell as to long-term

trends. D erived initially to explain conventional street crime, it is equallyapplicable to crime in cyberspace. As w e have seen, mot ives for computer-related crime are nothing new. Technologies may change rapidly, but humannature does not . The Ten C ommandments are as relevant t oday as they w ere

in Biblical times. The thrill of deception characterized the insertion of theoriginal Trojan H orse no less than d id the creation of its digital descendants.By contrast, the variety and number of opportunities for cybercrime are

proliferating. The exponential grow th in connectivity of computing and com-

munications creates parallel opportunities for prospective of fenders, and par-allel risks for prospective victims. As the internet becomes increasingly amedium of commerce, it w ill become increasingly a medium of fraud.

C apable guardianship has evolved o ver human history, fro m feudalism, to

the rise of the state and the proliferation of public institutions of socialcontrol, to the postmodern era in which employees of private security ser-

vices vastly outnumber sworn police offi cers in many industrial democracies.The policing of terrestrial space is now very much a pluralistic endeavour. So

too is the policing of cy berspace. Responsibilities for the control o f computercrime w ill be similarly shared betw een agents of the state, informat ionsecurity specialists in the private sector, and individual users. In cyberspacetoday, as on terrestrial space tw o millennia ago, the fi rst line of defence w ill

be self-defence.

D ISCLAIMER

O pinions expressed in this essay are tho se of the author, and no t necessarilythose of the Australian Institute of C riminology or the Australian G overn-ment.




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REFERENCES

Bennahum, D . (1999) D aemon Seed: O ld Email N ever D ies, Wired7.05 (May)

10011.C larke, R. (1988) Information Technology and D ataveillance. C ommun. AC M 31,5(May 1988) 498512 ht tp://w w w.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.C larke/D V/C ACM88.html (visited 30 D ecember 1999)

G lod , M. (1999) Spouses may delete their marriage, but e-mail lives on as evidence,Seatt le Times28/4/99. ht tp: //archives.seat tletimes.com/cgi-bin/texis.mummy/w eb/vortex/display? Story ID = 3733259942 &query = internet+ and+ privacy(visited 13 June 1999)

G rabosky, P., R. G . Smith and G . D empsey (2001) Electronic Theft: U nlawf ulAcqui sit ion in Cyberspace. C ambridge: C ambridge U niversity P ress.

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